Welcome Home And Goodbye Almost
by ShadowNinja1011
Summary: Seven years after Sasuke left, Sakura and Naruto have moved on. All is well until one day Sakura is left to tend a strange patient who is from her past. He is all bloodied, wounded and scarred. He learned from his past and wishes to make amends with them.. Can he while on the verge of dying?


**Yo! I'm back. Expect a ZeLink one shot up ahead.**

**This is dedicated to BlueSakuraAC (Aby-chan!) and Amethyst269 two good friends of mine who love this pairing. This is a gift to both of you guys! It's an early Merry Christmas! I hope you like it. Love you guys.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

It was Christmas Eve. Most of ninjas were in their homes with their families... All except Sakura. She spent hers tending to patients in need.

She looked down at her patient. She brushed her abnormal bubblegum pink hair away from her face to look down at her patient. She held a jar filled with herbal healing medicinal mixture. She applied it to the patient's battle wounds. From what she could see, this patient has many jarred and jagged scars across his body; apparently he must have been well acquainted with fighting frequently.

She knew his life was on the line, just one thing...He had dark raven hair. She knew he had a familiar chakra signature about his body, exactly like _his. _And the body form, the clothes, even his smell was all too similar _his. _ She let out a frustrated sigh. She turned her head to look at her mentor, Tsunade for help. The Hokage shook her head, "Sakura you need to deal with this patient… I have some other patients to attend to at the moment. I'm sorry." Tsunade gave Sakura a sympathetic glance. She walked out of the room before she could say another word.

"Wait Tsunade-sama!" she blurted out as Tsunade left the room.

'She doesn't know that it is _him._' She thought. She quickly went into another patient's room to tend to their needs.

**XxX**

Naruto ran down the hallways trying to get to the room Sakura was in.

"Sakura-chan!" he yelled. The blonde dope clumsily ran down the hall. He skidded to a stop at the door. He opened the door to peer into the room. He looked around with a quizzical look on his face.

He saw the raven haired boy who lay on the hospital. He blinked; slowly he looked at Sakura for an explanation. Sakura looked up at Naruto giving a 'don't talk yet' look. She finished up bandaging his abdomen and placed the gauze down. She sighed.

"Naruto…" she looked at him sadly, with a hint of longing in her voice. "He looks like Sasuke..." she refrained from saying kun on the end.

Naruto immediately placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Sakura_ he_ left us. Don't even think about the baka. He abandoned the team. He killed his own brother and betrayed the village. He dishonored the village and Team 7 and even Kakashi Sensei." He was struggling to say these things because he still missed Sasuke, even though it was over five years ago. He still missed Team 7 Squad. The only reason he was doing this was because Sakura was his best friend and like a sister to him. Sasuke was like his brother before he fought him….

Sakura sighed and nodded. She glanced at Naruto. He cracked a goofy smile. "Sakura-chan I think I have to head over to the Hokage's place. I'll see you later. And Merry Christmas!" he gave her a quick hug.

"Sayonara Naruto. Merry Christmas to you too" she muttered waving bye. He left the room. 'Sakura… That was Sasuke-teme…He most likely will be dead by the time she sees him 'well'…Christmas may be over…' he thought sadly.

Sakura exhaled another sigh. She turned around to dip a cloth into a basin of cold water.

The patient who lay on the bed in the same room stirred. He heard noises, mainly a familiar female voice talking soothingly to him. He didn't show it but he missed that voice. Especially its owner and herself. He let out a low groan. Slowly he opened his eyes. His onyx eyes were blurred in vision, he blinked a few times. The last thing he remembered was battling his former master Orochimaru and a certain close (or formally close) family member...

He tried to lift his head up, though it was quite painful. Sakura turned to face her patient. Without thinking or looking at him she spoke, "Oh good. You're up. That means you are recovering well. I'll get Tsunade-" she was interrupted by her patient.

"Thank you Sakura." The patient spoke in a familiar raspy sounding voice. He looked right into her forest emerald green eyes.

"Sasuke?" she looked back at him with wide eyes and spite in her tone of voice. He nodded. She let out a shaky sigh. "What? How did-?" she really wanted to slap him at this moment but she couldn't.

He raised a hand up to try and silence her. "I don't feel like explaining Sakura. Lots have happened... I planned to come back to see _you. _You know_-"_ He was cut off short by her glaring furiously at him.

"I should know?" Sakura began to rant with fury evident in her voice, "I now know what? Just what exactly? That you are an arrogant, egotistical, mean baka and one hell of a jerk you know that?!"

Sasuke sighed. He knew this would happen. He wanted her to know how painful and antagonizing it was for him to leave. He wanted her to know how much he missed her (and Naruto of course) and... And how much he cared for her.

"And you tore Naruto apart on the inside!" she rambled on. "You even made me go almost insane! And Kakashi was devastated that all that work he put into training you! He went into down spiral and said he was unworthy to be a shinobi! And he nearly renounced teaching saying he was a failure at teaching because of the outcome of one student!" Sakura's eyes shifted downward after saying that in shame. "You are a shameful human and dishonorable and disgraceful to the village Sasuke Uchiha."

After hearing those words, Sasuke had had enough. He, with a great amount of effort and pain, her grabbed her wrist forcefully, jerking her into his arms, at his side. Sakura yelped. She was dragged onto the bed, now lying next to him. Her mind and spirit were secretly soaring with a long forgotten happiness on this inside, despite the glare she had on her face.

Sasuke bent his head down to whisper into her ear. "Think about trying to get away and I'll just make you stay the night here." He growled murmuring against her ear.

Sakura lay beside him frozen. Her gem like green eyes grew wide. His voice sent shivers down her spine. Her brain wanted to run as far away from him, but her body didn't move a muscle, her body was enjoying the close contact she had been dreaming of from him since she was an immature young girl.

Sasuke pulled his head reluctantly away from her ear. He smirked at her reaction. This was what he wanted from her ever since he left.

They both lay still in silence for a short time.

Tsunade finished up with her patient. She went back to check on Sakura. As she opened the door she caught a glance of the two next to each other. Neither has noticed she peered her head in (though Sakura had heard the door creak open). A smile appeared on Tsunade's face; she slowly closed the door and returned to her normal duties. She was happy the pair was at peace for now.

As soon as Sakura realized her situation, she attempted to roll out of the bed. Sasuke saw her antics and held her even tighter. Just as Sakura thought she made it she felt something warm touching the base of her neck. Her eyes moved to see Sasuke gently kissing her neck. Her eyes grew wide (yet again) and her face turned a light pink. She was blushing. 'No, no no. It's just a distraction.' She took a deep breath.

Before she could react Sasuke kept kissing up and down her neck for a distraction. He was quite enjoying it.

Sakura was stubborn and tried to move herself away. "Sasuke! Stop this now!" she used her arms to shove him away. Sasuke groaned in annoyance at her and pressed his lips to hers in a frenzied rush. Sakura gasped and didn't hesitate to enjoy this while it lasted. As quick as it lasted it ended.

Sasuke pulled his head back and glared at her. "You try to escape that's the punishment you'll get." He smirked slightly.

Sakura wordlessly nodded shakily.

There was more of a long term silence after that. Sakura had not budged her had to face Sasuke. She didn't know what to think of him at the moment. One minute she hated him, the next she was frozen by him in pleasure.

Sasuke stared at Sakura. He pondered about what she was thinking. He sighed and still held tightly onto her. He unconsciously ran his fingers through her long brightly pike hued hair. He liked the way it felt through his fingers.

Sakura tensed at the sudden touchiness of him. She enjoyed when someone did that to her hair. Her mother had done it often when she was a young girl. She resisted sighing in happiness. Slowly sleep began to fall upon her. Her eyes drifted shut.

Sasuke noticed she had fallen asleep. He looked at her face. He moved some stray hair away from her face. He kissed her forehead. 'She looks very peaceful…and beautiful whenever she is asleep.' He thought to himself. He laid his head down again and fell asleep beside her.

XxX

It was now Christmas Day. Sakura and Sasuke still had not stirred, both still played next to another.

Early morning light peered through the green hospital curtains. Snow blanketed the grounds of Konoha. Jingling of bells and scents filled the air.

Sakura's still body began to stir. She blearily opened her eyes. She felt something warm around her. She looked up to see Sasuke asleep, holding her. She ignored the bitter feeling inside and allowed herself to snuggle up to him. She was finally content for the first time in a long while.

Sasuke opened his eyes to look at Sakura. He smiled then it faded. He looked down at his bandages. The bandaged were no longer clean white, now they were stained with crimson blood.

His dark eyes widened suddenly. He felt weak. He suspected he had bled throughout the night. He didn't have much time left. His eyes shifted to look at Sakura. "Morning." He moved to kiss her forehead.

Sakura let a small 'eep' escape her mouth. "Ohayo Sasuke." **((A/N: Ohayo means good morning in Japanese)) **She replied. She moved to inspect the bandages, she almost screamed in horror when she saw dark blood stained bandages.

Sasuke noticed she was about to freak out. He pressed a finger to her lips to make her not scream. "Sakura… I have a short amount of time before I leave." He said to her seriously. He didn't want to leave the world feeling bitter or regret. "I'm sorry I left. Left the village, Team 7, Kakashi Sensei, Naruto and you." He paused for a moment. "I know you most likely will not forgive me but.." he leaned over to kiss her. He entangled his fingers in her pink hair to deepen the kiss.

Sakura was going to respond but he cut her off. She unintentionally responded by placing her arms around his neck, but not too tight to hurt his injuries. It lasted for a good while until Sasuke broke it apart and smiled at her. "I love you Sakura. Merry Christmas. Gomen." He finally said.

Sakura looked at him. "I forgive you… And… I love you too." She finally said with a smile.

Sasuke coughed and fell back onto the bed. He was coughing up blood now.

Sakura frantically tried to get some medicine to help him. Once she found it she looked at him. He smiled at her. "Sayonara Sakura. Gomen Aishiteru." **((Aishiteru means I love you in Japanese.))** With that his eyes closed shut for the last time. His breathing had stopped. He was dead. _Dead. _His soul was in the spirit world now. He could finally rest at last.

Sakura dropped the medicine and went to his lifeless body. "Aishiteru Sasuke." She noticed the peaceful smile on his face. She held his cold hand, sobbing. "Aishiteru… Sayonara..." She kept crying until she was shaking. She knew he was in a better place.

Looking down at her was his spirit. "Aishiteru Sakura." He whispered into the wind and was gone.

**Authors Note: Well I don't care if I got their personalities right or not. I know it was a sad story but there never seems to be a sad story on the site so I decided to make a twist on this story. Well I hoped you liked it. Hopefully you guys liked your gift, I love you guys. Leave a review of you want. Happy Early Merry Christmas to you guys! Have a good one! -Shadow**


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